Mystery? Sounds Melodramatic
by IvyCloverJay
Summary: Emil Steilsson is an Icelandic sixteen-year-old. His life changes when he is sent to World W Academy, and forced to be roommates with an ebullient Italian and a mildly eccentric Chinese guy. After a strange string of fridge-related crimes, he befriends said eccentric, and several others, hoping to solve the mystery, all with his overprotective brother breathing down his neck.
1. Let's enjoy education, nobody

Emil Steilsson should be happy. Note the 'should'. In fact, he is far from happy as he perches awkwardly in front of World W Academy, a British boarding school built especially for those with 'special situations'. Emil, being 16, was obviously not told what those 'special situations' were, however they must've been important, as the school looked incredibly fancy. A large brick building with arching doorways, lots of chimneys, and extensive grounds betrayed a sense of decay, as thick, mould-scented ivy caked the walls. Emil didn't like ivy. It made him uncomfortable.

What also contributed to his discomfort was his brother, Lukas' arm around him. They had only recently discovered they were brothers, due to a freak accident at hospital (long story), and god, was Lukas clingy. "Hey, little bro," he spoke monotonously, pointing at the building. "That's the main school building, where all the lessons take place. Emil shook his arm off. "Could've guessed as much," he muttered. "I mean, you've practically drilled the entire map of the school into my brain." Lukas was a Science teacher at World W Academy, being 22 in age. He was passionate about his job, and had described in great detail the layout of the school.

Emil started to walk purposefully to the office, so that he could be admitted. He was a Sixth Form student, so there were likely to be other new students in his year, and their dormitory was in another part ofthe school. Lukas followed his younger brother.

The woman at the office was helpful enough. "Hello, Lukas!" She smiled sweetly. "Is that your little brother?" Emil felt a flash of annoyance at the words. "Yes, Elizabeta. He's starting Sixth Form. Could we have a copy of his timetable, a locker key, and a map?" Elizabeta started fussing with the papers. Emil felt even more awkward than before. "Oh, and also a key to his dormitory? I think he'd like to know who he's paired with." The Icelander coloured slightly as Lukas nodded towards his suitcase. "I think he'd like to put that away before lessons start."

Emil glanced at the clock. Half seven. Lessons started at nine. No wonder nobody was here yet. The air bit his face, although it was colder at home, he still felt the brittle English weather.

Eliza seemed to have finally finished. She handed Emil his timetable, planner, keys, and various wads of paper. "These have the rules on, and a map, and your dormitory. They're in pairs or trios, so don't worry about sharing too much living space." She smiled. "Nice to meet you, Emil Bondevik. " "Steilsson," he cut in, annoyed. She blinked. "Oh, ok. Emil Steilsson then!" Trying to ignore Lukas' hurt expression, he met Elizabeta's eyes. "So.. um, which form am I in?" She looked taken aback, but it passed in a millisecond, making Emil question if she was confused at all. "Oh, you're in form 12.1! There are only four forms in the year, and twenty in each form."

Lukas regained his smile. "Thanks, Eliza, or should I say Miss Hedervary, now that the school year has started?" Emil had never seen Lukas smile at a stranger, so he concluded that Miss Hedervary was trustworthy. "Thanks.." he muttered, as Lukas lead him out of the building, feeling her eyes bore into his back.

"The Sixth Form dormitories are in a seperate building," he said, as Emil followed dubiously behind. Birds chirped, and the wet grass squeaked beneath the sixteen-year-old's leather shoes as he pretended to ignore his older brother. They stopped abruptly in front of a smaller building made out of pink brick.

"The Cicada Block," Emil read out loud, the sharp sullenness of his voice surprising himself. More thick ivy surrounded the walls. Lukas nodded to Emil. "Why don't you go in?" He asked, his violet eyes concerned by the boy's quietness. Preoccupied, Emil entered the building. There were already a few tenagers there; a girl with bob-cut blond hair, wearing a pinafore that seemed too long for her slight frame. An equally short boy, with slightly curled platinum blond hair and a frightened expression. Neither seemed particularly interested in Emil, and the frightenedness of the boy unnerved him, so he let them be and headed up the stairs. Only then did he realise that Lukas was behind him, and awkwardly held back so as to let him go in front.

When they had climbed two flights of stairs, (Emil's dormitory was the last room on the second floor), Lukas spoke again. "That girl there was Zwingli's younger sister," he nodded down the stairs. "And the boy was one of Braginsky's friends." Emil wasn't listening, though. The last thing he wanted to think about was other people, especially after what happened to Lukas. So instead, he kept walking through the corridors, until they finally reached the end. A window outside the door shone a bright, autumn light that stung Emil's eyes.

"Room number (12)80," Lukas read out loud, handing his younger brother the suitcase. A sign below had some names on it. "Leon Wang (year 12), Sebastian Vargas (year 12)," he continued. But Emil's eyes were glued onto the last name. "Emil Bondevik (year 12)." So they had chosen to use Lukas' surname, after all. He flashed with annoyance. Why was he always associated with his brother? But before he could change the surname on the sign, Lukas ushered Emil forrwards. "Those are Yao Wang's little brother, and Feliciano and Lovino Vargas' little brother," he provided. "Well, I've got to get going, then. I need to be in the staffroom by 8, which," looking at his watch, "was a minute ago."

Emil turned to his brother. "Bless," he murmered, feeling slightly apprehensive. What would his roommates be like? "Farvel, bror," Lukas replied, pushing a small box into his brother's hand. "Wear this," he whispered quickly, before loping away. Confused, Emil pushed the box into his blazer pocket. No time to worry about that now.

Reaching for his key, he tried to open the door, only for it to swing forwards in front of him. Standing in the doorway, staring back at him with the brightest brown eyes imaginable, was a short chinese boy with choppy dark brown hair. He had thin lips and an oval face, with thick eyebrows that somewhat marred his appearance. This face broke into a small smile upon seeing Emil. "Leon Wang," he put his hand out. Slipping his key back into a blazer pocket, Emil shook it tentatively. "Emil Steilsson." The boy looked slightly confused. "But it says Emil Bonde-" "Irrelevant," Emil cut in. So, uh, which bed's mine?"

Leon led him into the room, where three raised beds with desks underneath them stood against the walls. "Mine's this one," he pointed to the one on the left wall. Emil glanced around. "I'll pick this one then," he pointed to the one on the opposite wall. Leon nodded, and placed Emil's suitcase on the right bed. "I'll unpack it for you, while you look around the dormitory. Is that fine?" Emil nodded, despite feeling uneasy. Strangers didn't usually unpack your clothes for you.

Trying not to look strange, he began to look around the suite. Leon's desk had a laptop on it, not unlike the one Emil had brought. Next to it were photographs of a long-haired man, a shorter haired one, a younger Leon, and a boy and girl around the same age as him. His family? Tearing his eyes away from the photograph, Emil headed towards what looked like the bathroom.

The wooden door swung open easily as he slipped in, the tiles clattering against his shoes. Remembering his manners, the boy took them off and ran back into the bedroom, putting the black leather creations underneath his bed. Emil returned before Leon could get a word in edgeways, and almost crashed into a tall mirror riveted into the wall. Neatly cut blond hair, almost white, hanging loosely over his deep purple eyes. He had been complimented on his eyes many times before, by boys and girls alike, however he disliked them, with their strange magical twinkle and habit of drawing attention to him.

Emil turned to the sink. Maybe he needed a slpash of cold water to help him cool down. Turning the cold tap on, he leaned forwards. Unfortunately, his hand was angled awkwardly, so a jet of water shot into the boy's eye. "GAHH!" Emil exclaimed, tumbling backwards. He dried his eye with a towel provided (this school made their own towels - don't ask) while attempting to turn the cold tap off, soaking the leg of his checked trousers. Leon, thinking something terrible had befallen his new friend, ran into the bathroon to see Emil hopping, water dripping from one leg, and cursing rapidly while desperately trying to stem the flow of tears from his eye.

"Emil, what the everloving-" Emil could hear the boy speaking behind him, but not how far behind; unbalanced, he crashed backwards into Leon. They tumbled into a pile of wet uniforms and towels on the floor, just as the door swung open. Shoot, Emil thought. He had forgotten all about the third roommate, and all the boys could do was watch helplessly as Sebastian Vargas entered the room.

"Oh sorry, did I interrupt anything?" He said in a singsong voice, closing the door behind him. Leon shook his head, dumbfounded by the sheer inconvenience of the timing. Emil, less surprised (things had a habit of not going his way) studied the newcomer. He had a small, chestnut shaped face with light brown hair and a crinkled curl protruding from his head. Sebastian was, as Mathias would describe, adorkable (god, did Emil hate that word).

Only then did the Icelandic boy realise how ridiculously embarrassing the situation was. Leon seemed to realise the same, and they untangled themselves urgently, flushing violently. Why did Emil have to mess up in his first hour of being there? Sebastian, however, didn't seem to notice and merely smiled, heading towards the final bead, which was against the back wall. Damn, Emil wished that he was as carefree as the Italian boy.

Leon cleared his throat after a questionably compelling show of 'Sebastian unpacking his clothes' and spoke. "So, uh, Seb - I can call you that, right?" Seb nodded, turning to Leon. "How are your brothers?" Seb seemed fully engaged now, although his eagerness caught Emil off. "Oh, yes. Feliciano teaches RE and Art here, and Lovino teaches Italian!" He beamed. "And how about yours?" He looked expectantly at the two of them.

"Oh, Yao's fine," Leon replied casually. "And Xiao's also good." Emil looked down. "Lukas is ok.." Seb nodded cheerfully. "Oh, we've got to go in fifteen minutes!" He glanced at his wrist. "Oh wait... my watch is in my bag..." "Em has a watch," Leon interrupted. "Wait, what? No I don't!" Leon seemed amused for some reason. "And don't call me Em!"

"Well, Em," Leon smirked as Emil scowled. "What's that mysterious box in your pocket you've been fingering for the past half hour?" The way he said r made it seem almost like an l, the same way that Emil's slightly rough accent meant he left out some letters. "Oh, that's..." Emil pulled the box out of his pocket and opened it slowly. A watch face looked back at him. Leon and Seb leaned over, with a wonder akin to that of a toddler seeing cake for the first time.

"Oh my! Who gave it to you?" Seb gasped as Emil fitted it on his wrist. Sleek, soft brown leather fitting casually over his skin, a pearlescent oval face with small silver numbering. But what was really special was the small sapphire wings jutting out of the centre, meeting the crystal face neatly. Leon's eyes fell on the faint, engraved lettering across the strap, and Emil's promptly followed. Names of his grandparents, then those of each passing generation until it reached Lukas, then finally Emil. A note lay inside the box. To Emil, my dear bror, it said. I am not expected to ever have children, so this is yours until you pass it on. I stopped wearing it once I fell in love, as I couldn't bear to see my grandparents' names, reminding me of their disapproval. Hope you like it, Lukas.

Emil glanced at the note, then slid it into his pocket. He nodded to Seb's question. "My... brother." He replied, as the Italian smiled. "Cool! But, hey, it's half eight, and we need to be at form by eight thirty-five...


	2. Aha, first impressions

Emil had never quite imagined that five minutes could be so short, as he, along with Leon, and Seb ran into their form room panting. Fortunately, the rest of the class seemed to have gotten lost, because the classroom was empty except for a girl in the front row with short blonde hair, who Emil recognised as the girl from earlier. Seb went to sit next to her, while Emil and Leon went to sit next to the window, the former behind the latter. Moments later, A group of students arrived.

Unpacking his bag, the boy looked up as a short girl with long blond hair pulled into a plait sat down next to him. "Bonjour," she greeted him in a sweet, silky yet honest voice. "What's your name? I'm Lucielle Bonnefoy." Emil put his bag on the floor. "Oh, uh, Emil Steilsson," he replied. Her name seemed oddly familiar. "And, umm, do you happen to know Francis Bonnefoy?" "Oh yes! He's my older brother," she smiled. "Do you have any siblings?" Her gentle questioning seemed too polite for Emil to not answer truthfully. "Lukas Bondevik.." "Oh!" Lucielle's bright blue eyes lit up. "Mr Bondevik! But, to be frank, you look more like Mr Vainamoinen," "yeah..." he looked down. I get that a lot.

Lucielle started a conversation with the boy sitting next to Leon, a polite guy called Cheng. The conversation was mainly about gambling, and Emil didn't have the heart to join in. Instead, he inspected his partner's school uniform. The girls' one was composed of a ruffled white blouse with a plain dark pink pinafore, socks (Luci was wearing knee-high ones) or tights, black shoes, a jumper (optional), and a blazer. He noticed that most of the class weren't wearing their blazers, so he took it off and hung it on the back of his chair.

Emil decided to finally wander the unknown - that is, to actually converse with the people sitting behind him. So he turned around, to see a girl with dark hair tied into bunches framing her coffee-coloured skin, and a boy with silky platinum blonde hair and a long fringe. The girl was reading a book entirely in French. Goddamnit, not another one of Francis' acquaintances. He chose to look at the boy instead. The boy caught him with his clear green eyes, and spoke in a smooth alto voice. "Hello, Emil. I am Luca Müller, nice to meet you." Emil actually could only see one eye, so he concentrated on it. "Uhm... are you ok?" Luca waved a slim hand in front of the boy's face, breaking him from his stupor.

"Oh, hi." Emil replied awkwardly. Luca smiled, then tilted his head to push his fringe away. "So... you've seen Lucielle, right?" Emil nodded. "Isn't she pretty?" Emil shook his head, then stopped, almost nodded, then stopped again. "I'm not interested," he said quickly. "In Lucielle, I mean." Luca shook his head. "Ever heard of aesthetic appreciation?" He sighed and tutted, and Emil uncomfortably shifted around as the form tutor arrived.

"Hello everybody!" A shortish woman with a white-blond bob cut and a blue headband walked in cheerfully. The room grew silent. "I am Miss Braginskaya," she smiled, and sat down at the desk. "Hey Katyusha!" Somebody in the class called, and Emil whinced. A tall boy with strangely cut hair and glasses was waving at her. He expected the teacher to be angry, but she simply grinned. "Hello, Eduard! Now, I shall call the register.."

Emil listened, calling out when his name was called. Leon's name was there, as was Seb's, Lucielle's, and Luca's. The girl behind him turned out to be called Michelle Azikiwe, the girl from earlier was Lili Zwingli, the boy with the slightly curled hair was Raivis Gallante. Cheng was also called out, as with Leon's sister, Xiao Mei Wang. A few other names skimmed through Emil's brain, and all too soon it was time for their first lesson.

The form room just happened to be his English classroom, so he stayed in his seat. Most of the students filed out, including Sebastian, however everybody in his row remained seated. You have got to be kidding me. This is the strangest councidence I have encountered in my sixteen years of living. Michelle finally decided to speak as a group of students lined up outside the classroom. "Bonjour, Emil! Or should I say hej?" Emil shook his head. "Bonjour is fine. I'm not Swedish." Michelle nodded dreamily, then spoke up suddenly. "Hey, Luci!" The two girls conversed lightheartedly, as the English teacher marched in, and the class followed behind him.

Emil had always loved English. He wanted to live in the country someday, with its beautiful lakes and hills, bustling cities, and fossil-filled beaches. It was also a way of getting away from his irritating older brother and Mathias, the man who he seemed to like so much. The teacher stood at the front of the class - he had quite a charming face despite his thick eyebrows. "Now, class, I am Mr. Kirkland, but for those of you who know me, you can call me Arthur." The girl sitting on the table next to Emil perked up. "Hey Artie, can we-" "No, Nadia, you cannot call me Artie. We went through this." Mr Kirkland cut in. Nadia looked disappointed, and her partner tugged at her sleeve. "But Tom.." she started.

The assistant strode over to Nadia and Tom's table and smacked a textbook down on the desk. "Both of yous, fer goodness' sake, let the lesson begin." He spoke through a thick Welsh accent. Arthur nodded. "Thank you, bro- I mean Aeron." Once the class had quietened down, Mr Kirkland called the register. Leon took this opportunity to turn around and look Emil straight in the eye. "So, uh, do you like English?" Emil was confused. "Yeah?? I mean, I'm bothering to take the subject for A Levels so..." Leon shrugged. "I don't know, it just seemed like a far too artistic subject for you. " Emil sighed dramatically. Luca would be proud of him. "I get that a lot."

Mr Kirkland finished, then stood up straight. He cleared his throat, forcing Leon and Emil to look at him. "So, we will be looking at the play 'An Inspector Calls' by JB Priestly. We will be analysing the text in preparation for when you will have to do so next year. So," he turned to Mr Kirkland II. "Bro-Aeron, could you please hand out the books?" Aeron (calling both of them Mr Kirkland would just be confusing) smiled and unwrapped a packet of light blue exercise books. "My pleasure." Michelle snorted. "By the end of the day, we're going to have way too many books." She whispered. Emil had to agree.

After all the exercise books and copies of 'An Inspector Calls' were given out, (the copies were brand-new, glossy, paperback editions. Cheng kept running his fingers along the spine.) They finally started the work. Their task was simply to read the first five pages, which Emil completed with ease. Some of the others in the class seemed to have trouble, however. Lili seemed to be slightly shocked, having seen the BBC film previously, that such a graphic play was being distributed to children. Apparently there was a scene where a girl committed suicide, however Raivis assured her that it wasn't present in the play.

While all this exciting conversation was happening, Emil was having conversations of his own. "Hey Leon," he leaned forwards. When he didn't reply, the Icelander blew on the back of his neck. "Oh come on! You could've just tapped." Cheng laughed quietly. "Ah, you two are just hilarious. Leon, you're just like dad!" The mentioned winced. "Oh god, does that mean I constantly say weird things like 'white people, sheesh' and get myself stuck in toilets? Bro, please don't say that." Cheng laughed again.

"Wait, you're brothers?" Emil asked. Luca cut in from behind. "Doesn't that make you triplets, with Xiao, I mean." Leon nodded. "It's practially your situation except Emma and Abel are the same age as you and aren't nearly as sweet and nice." Lucielle inhaled sharply. "Imagine having Francis as a twin..." "Or Lukas. Actually, that would probably be better because then he couldn't fuss over me because of my age." Emil offered.

"But Francis isn't that bad!" Michelle piped in. "Arthur was quite the fusspot to have as a dad. He would aways fight over me with Francis, but in the end he won. His other children were quite interesting, to say the least- one of them teaches Hockey here. And Francis told me about the curse-" suddenly everybody in the row looked straight at the African. "-of Eddie Poe." Leon glanced at Emil, before proceeding to grab the other boy's sleeve. "What's that?" The latter asked, his voice level as his friend peeked over his shoulder. Michelle inhaled, and began to speak.

"Once upon a time, a hundred years or so ago, there was a writer called Eddie Poe." "Are you sure that's not Edgar Allen Poe?" Luca asked, tilting his head and causing both eyes to be obscured by hair. "Yes." Michelle spoke so firmly that the boy didn't dare interject. "Now," she glanced around the room, "Eddie was not very well known. A strange man called Edgar Allen Poe, purely by coincidence," she shot Luca a look, "took all of his work and published it with his name. " Leon nodded, dropping his head down onto Emil's desk, and the boy resisted the urge to mess up his hair. Lucielle smiled faintly.

"And then Eddie died, penniless and impoverished-" "They mean the same thing-" "Cheng, listen. So, he died, penniless and/or impoverished, all due to Edgar. So, thirsting for revenge, he now haunts the site, which used to be his home. He wreaks havoc, such as destroying books by Edgar Allen Poe, scaring students. Sometimes, stuff goes missing..." "Michelle?" Mr Kirkland's voice crossed the room. "You're not telling your friends all that Eddie Poe rubbish Francis told you, are you?" "No, sir!" She smiled brightly. "Eddie Poe...?" Nadia, Thomas, and Lilli all ask simultaneously. "Never mind," Mr Kirkland says hurriedly. "Now, let's start analysing the first chapter!"

The rest of the lesson passed quite uneventfully. Emil fiddled with Leon's hair, Cheng and Lucielle resumed their conversation on gambling, and Michelle tried to explain why you could use the phrase déjà vu, but couldn't use bereits gesehen or scho gesinn, much to Luca's disapproval. "It's as if the French are more important than the German or Luxembourgian!" He exclaimed, aghast. The work in the lesson seemed relatively easy, and Emil made extensive progress on Leon's new hairstyle. The boy didn't seem to mind, except for the occasional "that hurts," or the equally poetic "oh my freaking god, Emil, I'd better be able to untangle it before Maths" Emil laughed softly at that, while Cheng and Lucielle shook their heads gently at the sight.

"Oh, for goodness' sake," A girl called Mathilda's voice grew suddenly loud, as the room became silent from shock. She seemed to be the quietest in the room, usually. "I don't give a damn what yer silly lil brain thinks about this Eddie Poe guy" She appeared to be arguing with an american boy called Austin, but for what, Emil never found out as Mr Kirkland started coughing aggressively." "Now, er, Mathilda, please excuse your language, thank you." The teacher said. "Now, oh! It's ten o' clock! Hop along to your next lesson, class."

 **I tried lol. Also I added some characters for counties and whatnot because there aren't enough characters aged 16-17 in canon.** **Nadia: Greater Manchester** **Thomas: West Midlands** **Mathilda: Devon** **Austin: Texas**


	3. Oh dear, Fridges happened

**Thanks to all of the people following this story! It makes a** **young hetalian very happy :)**

Second period passed quickly. In fact, so did third and fourth. It was only by lunch that Emil Steilsson really had time to relax, as break mainly constituted of 'try to find your third period lesson while eating' instead of 'hang out with friends and talk about girls' or something. And even then, food was a priority. Learning really seemed to affect the appetite, and Emil couldn't remember being so hungry in years. He ran to the canteen, Leon in tow (the boys had most of their classes together), and left his bag on a shelf before joining the queue. Lucielle and Cheng followed, as they all had Maths previously. (It helps with gambling, the former had remarked). And after grabbing a pot of tuna salad and paying, he went, with the others, to reclaim their bags.

"Let's sit by the table," Emil suggested.

"You mean the window."

"No, Leon, I think he meant The Table." Lucielle interjected. Cheng looked at her, bewildered. "Luci, are you ok?"

"She's certainly very pretty!"

Sebastian had joined them while they were all chatting, joined by Luca, Lilli, and Michelle. None of them had noticed.

"Oh hello, Sebastian! You're Feli's little brother, right?"

"Yep!"

"Lilli! Lovely to see you. Oh, and Luca."

"That's all well and good," Emil interrupted, "but where do we sit?"

"I have an idea!" Michelle cried out enthusiastically, and started dragging Sebastian out of the room. The rest followed with varying degrees of eagerness. Emil lagged behind with Leon, and had absentmindedly pulled on his earmuffs. In fact, he hadn't even noticed they were there until Leon slipped them off suddenly and blew into the other boy's ear.

"What was that for?!"

"Should we sit outside the staffroom or under the apple tree?"

Emil thought for a moment. On one hand, the apple tree sounded nice. On the same hand, if he sat by the staffroom he'd probably run into Lukas. The decision was simple.

"The apple tree."

"Ok, the staffroom."

Before Emil could protest, Leon dragged him towards the staffroom. Apparently Seb, Cheng, and Luca had chosen otherwise, because they walked towards the apple tree. Lilli, Michelle, and Lucielle followed the two boys, Lilli telling the two others about hiking in the alps. Leon's grip was surprisingly strong.

"Leon! You irritating-"

"Emil!" Lukas' voice echoed through the corridors as he stepped into view. Emil groaned, and Leon let go, startled.

"I thought you would've come to see me by now. Come on, you and your friends can eat in the staffroom with us." He gestured to a spikey-haired figure which Emil recognised with a jolt to be Mathias. He really didn't want to spend a lunchtime with his older brother, but Michelle had already piped up.

"Mr Bondevik! Oh, Emil, do you know him?" Lukas smiled benignly as his younger brother groaned again. "Yes. And I expect you're Michelle Azikiwe, one of Francis' acquaintances?" She let out a sound, somewhere between a squeak and a chirp, before falling silent. Lucielle was also silent, yet she seemed to twitch, as if laughing to herself. Leon snorted.

Another, far less welcome voice broke in. "Lukas, Emil, Emil's friends, let's eat already!" Mathias' words were greeted by an eyeroll from Lukas, who beckoned the five teenagers forwards. Emil tried to ignore the way his older brother clutched the Dane's arm, and kept close to Leon. Unfortunately, Leon was already close to Emil, so they were rubbing shoulders awkwardly for a while before the Icelander let Leon duck under his arm. Lucielle snuck glances at the two, looking amused, whilst Lilli elaborated on how pretty the Swiss mountainside was, and Michelle stared at Lukas' back in wonder and awe. Leon was breathing heavily, although Emil had a sneaking suspicion he was fighting back laughter.

After what seemed like ages, they reached the staffroom. Emil withdrew his arm from Leon's shoulders and entered, the girls following behind. The room was empty of people, except for a snoring figure with dark red-brown hair in an office chair. There was a table in the middle, and Lukas pulled up a few chairs for them to sit on, and sat down on one. Mathias grinned and sat next to Lukas, while Emil perched on the edge of a round-looking chair that seemed suspiciously to be Ikea, Lilli sat on a swivelling office chair, and Luci and Michelle sat on flat schoolchairs. They were one seat short.

"Oh, sorry, I'll get another chair-" Lukas made to conjure up another chair via magic, and Emil quickly pulled Leon onto his lap to avoid his older brother showing off his magic. Emil shuffled to the side to let his friend squeeze in. Lukas glanced at him. "Are you sure-?" Leon nodded furiously, and Lucielle, once again, looked on the edge of laughter. Emil whispered quickly; "Luci, could you cut it out?" which made her actually laugh, although she disguised it as a violent coughing fit. Mathias simply chuckled and lazily swung an arm around Lukas, who wriggled away in mock exasperation. Emil wanted his eyes to burn, but before they could, his brother addressed him.

"So, lillebror," Lukas opened a box, and the smell of mackerel filled the room. Emil opened his pot of tuna salad. "How was your first day at school?" He stared at the tuna for a while before answering; "Ok." Lukas seemed to want to press him further, but before he could even open his mouth Mathias had interjected.

"Bro, that smells awful. Could you do something-?" he had angled his large head towards the mackerel, which, Emil noticed, seemed to be raw. He wasn't the only one to have noticed, either- Luci was wrinkling her nose in distaste, whilst Lilli had covered her face with a sleeve, pretending to be wiping her nose. Lukas started. "Oh, sorry, I didn't have time to cook it, you know, with the broken fridge, I had to catch it just now..." he conjured up a silvery flame which passed quickly over the fish, browning it instantly. Michelle gasped. Emil scowled at his salad, which he had only taken one bite out of. However, Lucielle seemed to be more interested in something else.

"Please, sir, did you say there was a broken fridge?" She asked in her silky voice. Emil felt a strange pang of appreciation for her ability to make her voice a lot softer around the teachers. Leon looked up from his noodles. "Ah, you must be Francis' younger sister, Lucielle, huh? Yes, one of the fridges in the kitchen broke. It shouldn't be too much of a problem, since, of course, there were several, but-" Lukas said the next part with a slight frown "-the kitchen staff have told us that until it is fixed, us teachers can't keep our food in it." "Makes things a whole lot trickier, too," Mathias growled. "Having to prepare meals in between lessons is a pain."

ooo

Nothing more interesting was said for the majority of lunchtime, except the occasional coming and going of staff, (Miss Braginskaya, one of the Kirklands, Miss Hedervary) and eventually Lukas, glancing at the clock, stated that it was time to go. Emil got up with the others, and made to leave with Leon, but Lukas held him back. After they said that they'd wait for him, Emil went with his brother to a Mathias-free corner of the staffroom, where Lukas pushed him gently against the wall and looked at him straight in the eye.

"Emil." said boy gazed up into the other's eyes. There was worry creasing his brow. "It's great that you've made friends, and I'm really happy for you, but-" Lukas broke away and gazed around, checking that nobody was watching. "But what?" Emil asked when his brother hesitated. Lukas inhaled lightly. "I don't want you getting too cuddly with any of them, okay? Especially the boys." Emil felt a small rush of annoyance. Since when had he shown interest in boys? And even then, since when did Lukas disapprove of such trivialities? Wasn't that just hypocritical? "I don't get what you mean." the man's frown deepened. "Emil, _I_ don't care if you like boys, but some people do, and-" "So why are you telling this to me?" Emil pulled away and stared at his older brother. Lukas' voice was level. "I don't want you getting hurt, not at such a young age-" "But why does it matter to me if some people are twits? And besides, since when have I shown interest in boys?" Lukas' frown deepened. "Emil, I saw the way you looked at the boy- Leon, I think his name is- and you had your arm around him, and, I mean, you barely know each other." Emil felt exasperated, but from the last sentence, he wanted to laugh. "Leon? He's just a friend, and like you said, I barely know him. You need to calm down." Before Lukas could reply, he had run out of the staffroom and into the corridor, where the others were waiting.

"So, Emil, what did he want to talk about?" Lilli asked as the five walked down the corridor to enjoy the last of lunchtime. He glanced quickly at Leon, and felt his heart sink. There was no way he could tell the truth about his conversation with Lukas. "Oh, uh, just about how I'm settling in, talked about some of your siblings, etc. Nothing much really," Emil lied quietly. He could see Lucielle frowning very slightly at him- God, were even her frowns elegant?- but she didn't say anything, for which he was grateful. Leon had, once again, ducked underneath his friend's arm. It wasn't- Emil felt a flash of annoyance- in a romantic way at all, he didn't see his friend like that. Perhaps Lukas would just have to learn. His thoughts were interrupted by Michelle.

"God, Emil, why didn't you tell me you had an older brother?" Lucielle turned her attention to her and chuckled softly. "He did, Mic, you just weren't listening." "But-" Michelle turned and faced Emil, who was halfway through pulling his earmuffs on (a difficult task; Leon kept trying to snatch them), "you didn't tell us that he knew magic! I mean, sure, I'd seen him hanging out with Arthur and chatting about pentagrams and such, but still.. I mean," Michelle beat Leon to snatching Emil's earmuffs, "it's an incredible skill!" Leon ducked out of Emil's arm and grabbed his earmuffs off of Michelle, promptly jamming them onto the Icelander's head, just as the bell rang.

The gaggle of teenagers headed towards their form room, Leon resuming his occupation of squashing himself underneath Emil's arm as they did so. As they reached the room, there was a queue; evidently Miss Braginskaya hadn't arrived yet. Seb waved at them, smiling, Luca and Cheng with them, all three of them looking rather wet.

"Hey guys! How was your lunchtime?" Seb asked as they lined up behind him, panting. Lilli smiled lightly. "Oh, we were invited to eat in the staffroom by Emil's older brother, and we chatted to him and the games teacher." Seb glanced at Emil, tilting his head slightly. "You have a brother? Who?" "Mr Bondevik!" Michelle answered for him. "And he was awesome!" At the boy's grimace, Lucielle gave a half-suppressed laugh. "Oh come on Emil, your brother was pretty cool." "Yeah," Leon agreed. He had removed himself from Emil's armpit at last. "Try having Yao for a dad, I mean, _seriously._ " Cheng gave a nod of assent, and so did a girl standing behind them which Emil had previously not noticed, and assumed to be Xiaomei, Leon's sister. She gave a little wave upon being witnessed, and resumed talking to some girls next to her, which appeared to be Nadia, the girl who had called Mr Kirkland 'Artie', and Mathilda.

"So, Luca," Luci asked. "How did you guys get covered in water?" But before she received an answer, Miss Braginskaya had appeared and shunted all of them into the classroom. Emil took his seat by the window, and Lucielle joined him, throwing her plaited hair over her shoulder. Leon sat in front of him and swivelled around in his chair to face them, and Cheng, sitting down next to him, did the same. Michelle and Luca leaned forwards as Emil placed his bag on the ground. This time, Miss Braginskaya seemed to have several important announcements, however, and promptly told the class to quieten down, which they did, although it took quite a while. She spoke in a crisp, clear voice, or the crispest sound she could make with her thick voice:

"As some of you may already know, clubs will be on from next week, and you have the remainder of this week to sign up for some. A full clubs list has been sent to your dormitories. If you are confused, ask Mr Køhler of the Games department, since he is the head of clubs. It is also noted that if you have any concerns about your social, home, or school life beyond academics, please talk to our 'mentors'; that is, me, Mr Väinämöinen, and Mr Kirkland," she smiled slightly at the class' collective eyeroll at having to remember all of the Kirklands, "Aeron, the one with the silky hair. Another notice is that from next week onward, you will be allowed to go to the nearby town during lunchtimes and after school, although you will have to return by a set time, which, I believe, is seven pm." another eyeroll ensued. "Oh, really, children, I know that you are capable of staying outside past seven, but seriously, without a curfew, we have had students not returning for the next day or running off. You are also not permitted to go beyond that town unless it is with permission from your form tutor. Now," she looked up and down at the class, who had long since fallen silent. "that concludes form for today. Enjoy your next lesson!"

The entire form stood up and made for the door before Miss Braginskaya called out again. "Wait! Sit down, there's another notice!" Everybody sat back down (Emil caught a few groans), and she smiled weakly. "I'm terribly sorry, I'll have you dismissed soon. This message is regarding the fridge." Lucielle had turned her attention fully on the teacher. "Early this morning, the caretaker was surveying the kitchen. He had just been gazing out of the window- poor chap, probably doesn't get much sleep- when he heard a crash behind him, coming from a refrigerator. Upon opening it, there were fumes coming from the thermometer, and it seemed that said fridge had broken down. Although it is more likely that it is simply an unfortunate occurence, he seems convinced that it was an act of sabotage. So-" she glanced around the classroom while saying this- "please tell a member of staff if you knew anything about a sabotage of the fridge, or if you committed it, because frankly, we are all tired of Alistair's complaining, but too scared to say it to his face, and we really want to be able to teach without having to cook waffles at the same time. You are now dismissed."

The form exited silently, but upon entering the corridors they broke out into worried muttering. "Why would anybody sabotage a fridge?" Nadia asked to nobody in particular. "Well, they might be trying to make life difficult for the teachers, since that was the staff fridge," Cheng offered. Leon nodded. "Maybe they thought that if the teachers were too busy thinking about food, they'd forget about homework?" Emil stayed silent, reading his timetable. Somebody tapped him on the shoulder. It was Lucielle. "Scary, isn't it?" she whispered, even though there was excitement in her voice. Emil half-nodded. "But Luci, why should a broken fridge affect us?" He put his arm around Leon again as he asked this. Luca interrupted before Lucielle could reply. "Hey, what do you guys have next? I have German." "RE. Emil?" Lucielle tilted her head slightly. "Triple Science." They stared at him. "Wait, Triple Science?" "My brother signed me up for it." Emil shrugged. "I did the equivalent of Triple Science GCSEs, and I decided to continue it." Leon snorted. "I'm doing Mandarin, I don't know about you." Luca pressed on. "What grades did you get?" "A* for all three Sciences. Why?" Lucielle gave a sharp intake of breath. Emil shook his head.

"Look, guys, it's more important that we get to our lessons now, okay?" He marched down the corridor, Lucielle following listlessly, Leon tucked under his arm, Luca still muttering, "Triple Science A*s?" As they walked. Lucielle had to go up some stairs to the RE classroom, and Luca and Leon had to go to the Languages block, leaving Emil quite alone, except for Xiaomei. He didn't say anything, although she did seem to sneak glances at him, and was that a blush? He didn't really have time to think of such things. On the way to the Science block, outside the Food Tech classrooms, there was an unusual mahogany table with a golden plate on it. Xiaomei glanced at it quickly before walking faster. Emil followed her, still silent. What was so strange about that table? There it was, amongst others, beneath the apple tree. However, there was no reason for him to be pondering over a table, nor his friend's sister's unusual actions as he reached the building.

The Science block was made of red brick, like everything else, yet it seemed to be a bit newer than the rest of the school (perhaps that was just Emil's imagination). A golden plate on the plywood door stated that the building had been opened by The Kirkland Fund (there was a fund for the Kirklands?), and there were several moderately large windows set into the wall. He pushed the door open- Xiaomei gave a little squeak and entered- and Emil followed her. The walls were painted in a sterile, blank white, the floor was covered in a strange sort of plastic, and the lights illuminated the corridors, revealing posters about medical institutions, famous scientists, and scientific facts. There was also a great deal of advice on how to learn Science, the opportunities that a GCSE in either Physics, Chemistry, or Biology could offer you, and how to apply for a Chemistry degree in several different universities. Emil's classroom was on the first floor, so he and Xiaomei had to climb up a series of steps, passing several Year 8s on the way, and they entered a hallway almost identical to the one that they had just left. Emil located the classroom, and, with a growing sense of anticipation combined with foreboding, he opened the door, and stepped in.

The walls were painted in a white which, on closer inspection, appeared to be pale blue. The posters on the wall were made by children, some of which seemed to be several years old- on one of them, talking about compounds and elements, was the name 'Arthur Kirkland'. There were a few more, one of which, Emil realised with a start, was labelled 'Lukas Bondevik, Year 9'. It spoke, in complex detail, about protons and neutrons. Another one about the Solar System was labelled 'Berwald Oxenstierna', although it was noticeably less detailed and precise than Lukas'. Before he could examine the posters, however, Lukas coughed lightly, and Emil was reminded wordlessly that he had to take up a seat. As much as the boy preferred to sit at the back, he was gestured to sit nearer Lukas, although it was, at least, by one of the few windows, however obscured it was with bottles of sulphuric acid.

Xiaomei pulled up the seat next to him. She had soft brown hair, just like Leon, although perhaps more elegant. She had the same, slightly angled eyes, with thinner eyebrows, however, in fact, Leon had quite thick eyebrows in comparison to Cheng's, as well. Xiaomei blushed intensely, and didn't speak, while Emil concentrated with extreme strength on the window. Behind him, a boy with a strange curl sat down and began talking with extreme ferocity to his partner, a misty-eyed boy who didn't sem to be listening. Finally, what seemed like all of the class was settled, (and that was not much- few chose to do Triple Science for A Levels), and Lukas began to speak.

"Welcome, class. As some of you may know," (Emil was beginning to tire of teachers saying that), "I am Mr Bondevik of the Science department. I assume that you are all here for Triple Science, one of the most difficult A Levels you can do. That is-" He glanced around the almost empty classroom whilst saying this- "If you manage to complete all the coursework for two years." The room was silent as he said this; a rugged-looking girl in the third row was tapping her pen against the desk, it was quite irritating. Xiaomei, on the other hand, had lost her blush, making way for an expression of rapture in her face. It seemed that Lukas' soft voice, monotonous to Emil, was modulated to others. He continued speaking.

"Today I will give you your exercise books and your textbooks, and I will go through my expectations of this class in brief. Then, I will tell you the order of the subjects we will cover, and ask you to feedback on any information you find might be useful in future. Any questions?" The misty-eyed boy raised his hand. "Sir, what degree did you do?" Lukas broke into a very faint smile. "I don't have time to answer that, I'm afraid- ask Emil, he's roughly in front of you." Emil wanted to scream, but he didn't say anything, simply exhaled a little with his nose. The boy nodded, unaware of the Icelander's inner turmoil, then returned to staring at his pencil case. Emil was only half-aware of Lukas placing a textbook and a yellow exercise book on his desk, even less so of the way his brother's lips turned upwards upon passing him, practically ignorant of Xiaomei's little, sneaked looks at him. In fact, the rest of the lesson he concentrated on the tasks set, listened with interest but little curiosity at what Lukas had to say, and made notes on the information offered by the rest of the class. Nothing interesting happened for quite a while.

That is, until there was a knock on the door. Emil had just glanced up at the clock- ten past three, a quarter of an hour left- when a rap of knuckle against wood drew the entire class' attention. Lukas' voice sounded. "Come in." As if the lesson couldn't get any worse for social interaction, Mathias entered the room. However, he wasn't in his usual, optimistic state. Sweat trailed down his forehead. He was frowning. He kept running a hand through his hair, making it stand up even more, and his dialogue was broken:

"Bro, you've got to come down." Lukas looked at him with a frustrated expression, mingled with concern. "Mat, you know I'm teaching right now-" "It's urgent!" There was desperation in his voice as he ran through his hair again. "No seriously, it's madness downstairs. Nobody knows what happened, everybody's begging for you, or Arthur, or Vladimir, it looks as if you'll be catching mackerel in the pond for another week-" but Lukas had already grabbed him. "Wait, bro, what's happening? Tell me, exactly." Mathias answered, trying to keep the panic out of his voice."The fridge, Luke. It's gone."

 **Hey guys! Sorry for how late this chapter is, I was going to make it longer but I figured that it would force me to write the same amount of words for each chapter, (not that there's anything wrong with that, I was really lazy the past two ones lol), but anyway, motivation does wonders. I'll post another one shortly, see you! ~ Jay**

 **Please plan some conspiracies in the reviews!**


	4. Talking Puffins and Eyebrow Fics

**Right guys, you can finally get all of the *hem hem* epic drama!** **Plus, Mr Puffin might happen.**

 **Dododoobird thanks for reviewing! I'll put a guide to some of the names here for you, and about Seb, we'll just have to wait and see** ( ͡ ͜ʖ ͡).

 **Name guide:**

 **Emil Steilsson- Iceland**

 **Leon Wang- Hong Kong**

 **Sebastian Vargas- Seborga**

 **Lucielle Bonnefoy- Monaco**

 **Michelle Azikiwe- Seychelles**

 **Luca Müller- Luxembourg**

 **Cheng Wang- Macau**

 **Xiaomei Wang- Taiwan**

 **The Kirklands- British Isles**

 **Nadia- Greater Manchester**

 **Thomas- West Midlands**

 **Mathilda- Devon**

 **Austin- Texas**

 **Please tell me anything you are confused about!**

"Class dismissed!" Lukas shouted across the corridor- he had already made it to the stairs, by the sounds of it. Nobody was complaining about getting an extra fifteen minutes of free time, yet it was strangely disconcerting; in fact, the class seemed quite reluctant to go. Emil made to leave quickly, but Xiaomei had pulled him back. "What?" he asked with a feeling of frustration- all he wanted was to go and wait for Leon- but she just blushed, keeping a firm grip on the boy. She spoke, for the first time to him, in a smooth, balmy voice, with much stronger traces of Chinese than Leon. "Wait. I need to tell you something." He sighed gently, as she leaned forwards. "I-" but what she wanted to say, Emil never knew. The misty-eyed boy, who was apparently called Michael, tripped over and fell into him, and they both collapsed through the door. This was the second time in a day that Emil had fallen over, and it wasn't something he was prepared to get used to. As they picked themselves up, giving each other a muttered apology, a voice carried up the stairs.

"Leon, I'm sure he's fine." "Oh come on Luci, how could it hurt to give him a little surprise? It's amazing that we both thought of the same idea-" "Leon! Luci!" Emil ran down the stairs to meet them. Leon jumped backwards, grabbed Luci for support, then ended up pulling her down. All three of them were laughing, even Luci, who was picking herself up from the stairway. "Leon! These socks were new, you know." She gave a look of disdain to the spiky part of the railing which had ripped a hole in her socks. Emil chortled and offered her a hand, pulling her up. Luci dusted off her pinafore before straightening up. Emil gave Leon a brief hug; he returned the compliment by clutching his arm. Luci turned an amused eye on the two.

ooo

"So, what idea did you guys have?" Emil asked as the three walked through the grounds, towards the dormitory, embracing their additional free time. Luci giggled, but it was Leon who answered. "Well, there I was, in Mandarin, when suddenly somebody started screaming about a fridge. Our teacher-" Leon halted, giving a look of distaste- "was Dad." Emil shrugged. "I don't know man, I had Triple Science with Lukas, that's pretty tragic." Leon continued. "So, well, Mr Dad-" he halted again at Luci's face. "Oh, come on, what do you want me to call him? Mr Person-who-brought-me-into-this-world? Anyway, quick as a flash, I asked to go to the toilet; it worked, and before he could tell me to be quick, he had to leave to sort out the situation. So, taking advantage of all this confusion," Leon smirked. "I took the 'toilet break' as an opportunity to miss out on fifteen minutes of staring at the wall, I mean, he wasn't going to return was he? And then Luci had the same idea at the same time to bunk off of her RE lesson."

Emil stared in amazement at the two. "Wait, so you guys skived off of your last lesson? On your first day? That's quite rebellious." Luci shrugged. "I mean, both of our teachers were looking to be absent for the remaining quarter of an hour anyway, and I thought that relaxing in the common room would be more productive than staring at where Mr Vargas should be." There was a hint of pride in her voice. Emil smiled gently, and nudged Leon gently. The boy was still holding his arm, and seemed to be trying, once again, to steal Emil's earmuffs. He lunged suddenly at the fluffy pieces of apparel, and overbalanced, crashing both of them into the wall. Luci gave a bright bout of laughter before leaning forwards to help the tangled mess of limbs, then stopped. Something was tapping on the window. They were in the corridor before the common room, on the top floor of the dormitories; Emil knew that there were no trees by the window that reached that high. All three of them stared in the direction of the sound.

A black-and-white bird with a brightly coloured beak was tapping on the class with its foot. Emil glanced up and down the puffin. No, it couldn't be... Yet it was unmistakably so. Few puffins had black chests, and yet fewer had bright red bows tied around their necks. Disentangling himself from Leon, the boy rushed to the window, and threw it open. Mr Puffin swooped in with an unusual level of grace- that is, unusual for a puffin with such a deep voice, as he demonstrated.

"Emil, my boy, why didn't you tell me you were going?" He pecked Emil's finger in annoyance. "Ow! Sorry, Mr Puffin, there's a 'no pets' policy," The boy stepped back, reaching out an arm. The puffin jumped on it, and continued. "Hasn't your brother told you that the 'no pets' policy is broken several times a year? I mean, even the hockey coach has a pet polar bear?" Emil patted Mr Puffin in apology. "Nope. Good to know, though." Only then did he turn around to see Luci and Leon gawping at him. "What..?" "Emil, I knew you were weird, but a talking puffin is a bit too far." Emil stared at him in confusion. "What's wrong? Is that strange?" Luci rushed out before Leon could reply. "Well, what he's trying to say is that it's unexpected for you to have a talking animal pet; they're quite rare, and, well, he's just surprised, okay?" Mr Puffin gazed around at both of them. "Emil, you've made friends? Finally, I was getting worried. Oh, you forgot your violin as well."Emil gazed at his feet. "Well, about that..." "So that's why I brought it for you!" the bird ignored him. Emil's eyes widened. "Wait- what?!" "Yeah, it's in your common room. Was mighty heavy as well." Mr Puffin said offhandedly, before perching himself on the windowsill, ignoring Leon and Luci's persistent stares.

ooo

"So, you have a talking pet puffin, not to mention one that speaks like a gangster, Luci's a rebel, you play the violin, and now it turns out you write fanfiction?" Leon asked over Emil's shoulder. They were sitting in the Acadia Common Room, the one in the Cicada Block (even though it was open to all of the school). The panels were painted in the colour of a starling's egg, with Morris-inspired wallpaper and upholstery, and a large, unlit fireplace on the far wall. Emil was lounging on the end of an unconventionally small sofa only intended to seat two people, Leon sprawled next to him lazily. Luci was curled up in a nearby armchair, reading a book in French, oblivious to the other two's conversation. Emil sighed, his laptop propped up on his knees, and he looked up before answering.

"Not really fanfiction, just stories about other people and stupid stuff that happened to me, dramatised." Leon looked up. "But isn't talking about yourself restricted?" Emil pulled the other boy up a bit, linking an arm subconsciously. "Not on LiteraSea, it isn't. You're allowed to write about anything on the site, as long as it conforms to the laws within your country. That's why it's so popular in America, and not in North Korea." Leon leaned against him, staring at the screen of writing. "Sounds cool. Are you going to write a story regarding my eyebrows?" He waggled said eyebrows, and Emil stifled a laugh. "Well, due to my lack of motivation, I'm not writing anything at the moment, not even prose about your fantastic eyebrows." He sighed, turning off his laptop. He wasn't in the mood to read much, either. He watched the room fill; school must be over, and slumped backwards, pulling Leon and a scientific diagram they had been studying towards him.

"Guys!" Sebastian, Michelle, and Lilli were running through the room, stopping in front of Leon, Emil, and Luci, who put her book down and looked at them, bemused. "Oh, hi. How was RE without me?" Michelle laughed. "Awful. We had to wait until Mr Vargas returned before we could be dismissed- that's why we're so late." Luci blinked. "But Lilli, you don't do RE, do you? So why are you late as well?" Lilli started a little at being addressed, but quickly regained her composure. "Oh, Mr Beilschmidt returned at roughly the same time as Mr Vargas did, so we were let out late." They continued to talk about some insane theory regarding the RE teacher and the German teacher, and Emil gave out a little groan. The scientific diagram was incorrectly drawn.

Seb turned his attention towards him and Leon. "Hey Emil, Leon! How are you?" Leon gave a muffled reply (his face had drifted into Emil's shoulder), and at Seb's inquisitive look, he turned around a little and repeated. "Fine, don't sit on the puffin," before burying himself, once again, in Emil's shirt. The boy knew how Leon felt; he was exhausted for seemingly no reason, perhaps the mental toll of the first day at school. Seb smiled just as buoyantly as ever, and Emil envied his boundless energy. "I'm going to see Cheng and Luca, bye!" he called, and all five of them waved back at him as he left, his singular, crooked curl bobbing in the air. Emil groaned for the fourth time that day and placed his laptop on the table, wrapping an arm around Leon.

ooo

Emil couldn't remember falling asleep, but he must have, or else he wouldn't have woken up. He shook silvery hair out of his eyes before surveying his surroundings quickly, twitching a hand cramped from being leaned on for over an hour. The sky outside was darker, in a state of twilight, Luci was reading through some of the signs on the noticeboard against the wall, her book discarded on the armchair, surrounded by a gaggle of girls, including- Emil realised blearily- Xiaomei, Leon was lying next to, or rather half on top of, Emil (the sofa wasn't quite wide enough), his dark brown hair tickling the boy's chin slightly. Emil thought he was asleep, but Leon was snoring incredibly unconvincingly, so much so that the boy tweaked his ear.

"Em!" "Don't call me Em." "Emil, whatever, you could've just said something!" Leon sighed in exasperation before resting his head on Emil's collarbone, his brown hair tickling his neck. Emil pushed himself up a little and rubbed his eyes. "I couldn't be bothered; besides, you would have ignored me. Why were you pretending to sleep, anyway?" Leon curled into a half-sit with effort before answering. "Well, duh, nobody's going to disturb me when I'm asleep, and it gives me an excuse to use you as a pillow." At this, Emil rolled his eyes, and Luci turned in their direction. Her periwinkle blue eyes flashed with something, (amusement? Mischief?) before subsiding, and she seemed to stifle a grin, replacing it with an elegant smile.

"So, finally awake, huh?" She asked, walking over to them. Michelle, Lilli, and Xiaomei followed her, the last trying desperately not to make eye contact with Emil, all whilst sending irritated glances towards her brother. Emil nodded. "Leon woke up a while before me and pretended to sleep- oi!" Leon, upon seeing his sister, had resumed his snoring, his head buried in Emil's chest. The boy tweaked his ear again, and was rewarded with a look of utmost chagrin. "Ok, Em," Leon ignored Emil's annoyed look. "I'll stop." There was a slightly mischievous air in the way he spoke, and Emil smiled slightly. Luci chuckled. "Well, dinner's in roughly five minutes, so I'd get your hair combed, Emil, and you too, Leon." Just as she spoke, the bell for dinner rang, and Michelle flinched. Lilli glanced up at the clock. "Oh dear, Luci, it's already been five minutes since we started talking.."

ooo

A few minutes later, the six of them entered the dining hall where dinner was served. Quite different from the canteen, it was larger, busier, and prettier, with slightly off-white walls, pale yellow panelling, floral curtains, and long tables. Leon leaned over Emil's shoulder and pointed to the end of a counter where food was being served; the queue was short, most people already being served, and Emil picked up a plastic tray, then picked up one meal on a plate, a pot of salad, a side, and a dessert (the school cared for nutrition, and you had to pick one of each). Leon did the same, then both of them headed to sit next to Seb, Luca, and Cheng, who had already established themselves as a trio, followed shortly by Xiaomei, still avoiding Emil's gaze, and Luci.

"So where're Michelle and Lilli, then?" he asked, picking at his sardines. Cheng was humming a tune peacefully, and Leon, apparently recognising the tune, joined in. "Oh, they're sitting with Nadia, Mathilda, and Carlie." Xiaomei answered, much to Emil's surprise. Luci cocked her head. "Don't you always sit with Nadia and Mathilda though?" she asked, glancing at Emil slightly. Xiaomei shook her head. "Oh, no, I just thought it would be interesting to get to know these guys." Her eyes drifted over to where Leon and Cheng were in full hum battle mode (something that Emil never thought he would experience), and she raised her voice a bit. "Uh, xiongdi? Baichi? What are you doing?" both of their heads snapped around, as did Luca's and Seb's.

"Oh, hi, meimei," Leon greeted her unenthusiastically, before exhaling agressively. "Oh, okay, I'm happy to see you. Why haven't you spoken to us all day?" Cheng looked confused. "Wait, has she not spoken to you? She was chatting to me just earlier." "Oh, I just.. didn't have time." Xiaomei replied airily, even though her cheeks were growing pink. Luci arched an eyebrow, and Luca did the same back to her, and both sniggering and breaking eye contact immediately. Emil was confused, and even more so when Leon buried his face in his shoulder, evidently trying to hide the fact that he was in peals of laughter. The only people not acting strangely at this comment was Seb, who was attacking his lettuce with an unusual level of barbarity, evidently dissatisfied with the limp green vegetation, and Cheng, who was looking just as puzzled as Emil felt. Xiaomei broke the silence again.

"Well, I mean, I just didn't see you, and I was trying to socialise with other girls, and it didn't cross my mind." Leon laughed even more heavily, to the point where Emil grabbed him and shook him gently. The boy was subdued, and leaned his head on Emil's shoulder, even though he was shuddering. Xiaomei threw him a scathing look. Cheng seemed content with this explanation, and continued eating, whilst Luci simply crossed her fingers, and Luca busied himself with straightening Seb's tie, which seemed to have a mind of its own. "So.. you didn't even consider talking to your triplet? Not even once?" Emil questioned, placing his head on his hand. Xiaomei stopped, staring straight at him, and opened her mouth, said nothing, then closed it again and simply nodded.

Emil's words seemed to break a dam. Leon shook with silent laughter, and clenched at his friend's arm in order to steady himself. Luca broke into an unusually well-pitched chortle, pulling Seb's tie so tight he choked. Even Cheng was giggling slightly, apparently having grasped the joke of the situation. Nobody could compete with Luci, however. She actually fell off of her chair, and Emil, sitting next to her, offered her a hand. The girl was quivering so hard that she couldn't lift up her hand, and her feminine, shrieking laughter filled the room. Luci choked a few syllables once it had subsided enough for her vocal cords to work. "Emil- you're- mon Dieu!" She took a gasp of air, and straightened up a little, her glasses slipping off her nose. "Oh my god, Emil, you are so unaware!" The entire dining hall was silent at that point, and all eyes were fixed on her. Luci simply stood up, with the help of Emil and her chair, then wiped down her dress and sat down on said chair with a small, dignified huff, straightening her glasses, whilst Leon motioned furiously for everybody to keep eating. Emil patted Luci on the back.

The rest of dinner passed without much word, except for a few teachers coming over to ask Luci if she was okay, and what they were laughing about. Seb said that it was just a joke that he told; this frustrated Emil, since he didn't know himself, and it certainly wasn't a joke. He kept quietly to eating, although he didn't have too much of an appetite and slid his yoghurt into his blazer pocket in case he felt hungry later. Emil had never eaten much, and a main, salad, side, and dessert was a great deal more than he felt he could stomach in such a short time. Leon had finished before him and was chatting animatedly to Cheng, Xiaomei joining in eventually. It took a while for Emil to realise that Mr Puffin had landed on his head- in fact, he only noticed when the bird started pecking at his soft hair. "Stop, I'll speak to you later," was all that he received, however, and Mr Puffin jumped off of Emil with a look of distaste and flew out of the window. Maybe, Emil thought, forfeiting the side wouldn't hurt either.

ooo

"So, in what way am I unaware?" Emil asked Leon. They were in their dormitory, the former on his bed, the latter sitting on the floor cross-legged, trying to keep a straight face. Seb was on his laptop, and was crying so hard that the other two boys were mildly concerned. Leon sighed, flicking a long lock of hair out of his face. "Well, let's just say that my sister has a thing for light haired boys." Emil opened his mouth to ask another question, then closed it. Things seemed slightly clearer now, although not by much, and the boy still felt a dull throb. Why must everybody imagine him to be romantically involved in others? He had known everybody here for less than a day, and had little interest in mingling. Emil slipped out of bed, exhaling gently, and sat next to Leon.

"Hey, what d'you reckon Seb's watching?" He asked, putting an arm around his friend. Leon smirked. "Probably something inappropriate, or memes, or like, Justin Bieber." Emil grinned. Seb's crying had stopped, and was replaced with a look of grim determination, headphones slightly askew. "I don't know man, seems like spongebob to me, or Peep and the Big Wide World." Leon chuckled, and stretched out his arms. "We should probably get changed. It's quite late." Emil pulled out his phone for a moment, checking the time quickly. "You think eight fifty-eight is late?" Leon pouted and crossed his arms. "We need to sleep early! We're not even changed either." Emil nodded. "I'm taking a shower tonight. You?" Leon nodded as well. "I just hope Seb doesn't think the same, or we'll be up until midnight. Seb!" He called. "Are you going to take a bath tonight?" Seb pulled off his headphones and looked down at Leon. "What did you say? I didn't catch that." Leon rolled his eyes. "Are you taking a bath tonight or tomorrow morning?" Seb thought for a moment. "Tomorrow." He then pulled his headphones back on and continued watching, as Leon gave Emil with a look of disbelief.

ooo

"Honestly, what _is_ he watching?" Leon asked Emil as he reentered the room, drops of water clinging to his ash brown hair. He was wearing a polo shirt and pyjama bottoms, and as he nodded pointedly towards Seb, some of the water splattered onto Emil's face. "Oh, sorry. The shower's free." Emil shook his head, "it's okay. And I've changed my mind, Seb's watching Justin Bieber." the Italian was watching his laptop screen with a beguiled expression, and Leon grinned. Emil pulled his pyjamas from a draw, placed his watch carefully back in the box which he had received it in (a strange shiver went through his veins at the sight of it), and entered the was a shower cubicle, a basin with a mirror over it- Emil remembered how he had slipped here only a few hours ago- a towel rack, and some shelves. He placed his pyjamas on a shelf, then undressed quietly, making sure that the door was locked beforehand. Once ready, the boy opened the shower cubicle and stepped in, closing the door behind him. The air was full of steam from having been used only a few minutes ago, and Emil carefully pressed the 'on' button on the shower.

Immediately after doing so, the boy recognised that he'd made a mistake. A jet of boiling water hit his adam's apple and he screamed, jumping backwards. He shoved the meter towards 'cold', yet that was another mistake; even though Emil had only twisted it about an inch to the right, the water suddenly turned icy and the boy felt equally uncomfortable. He pulled the shower head off of the hook and angled it away from him, gradually twisting the knob to the left. Eventually it reached a bearable temperature and he showered, washing his hair quickly. Once he had finished putting on a t-shirt and checked trousers, he stared at himself in the mirror for a while. What had happened today? Emil pressed his forehead against the smooth metal, thinking. He had made friends, and hadn't messed anything up too much... Xiaomei was acting weirdly because she had some weird thing for Emil, he had fallen over twice, half-convinced his brother that he was gay, and caused Luci to laugh so much she fell off her chair. On second thoughts, he had messed stuff up. Sighing, Emil took his head away from his reflection- violet eyes staring at him, twinkling lightly, soft hair, almost white, trickling down the nape of his neck, pale face, flushed cheeks. He exited the bathroom, averting his eyes from the mirror.

ooo

Emil lay on his bed, beneath the covers, his laptop on his knees, finally writing a story about how captivating Leon's eyebrows were. Leon lay on the other end of the bed, curled up, Mr Puffin harassing him. "Come on, boy! You could be studying, writing, singing, yet you're lying down doing nothing?" "Mr Puffin, please leave me alone." He sighed- he was caught on the part that said _The boy's eyebrows seemed to be of another realm_ and decided to end it for the day. Shutting down his computer, he turned to the bird. "Mr Puffin, what did you want to tell me earlier?" Mr Puffin turned to him, then opened his beak. "I was going to tell you that your brother's been watching you closely since I arrived- he seems intent on something. Did anything happen?" Emil said nothing, aware of the puffin's eyes on him, even more aware of how Leon had stopped moving, fixed his amber eyes on him. Emil didn't want to lie, not to Mr Puffin, but he couldn't see a choice. Taking a deep breath, he replied: "No. I think he's just concerned because I'm getting older." The puffin puffed, and continued to harass Leon, who continued to be harassed. Emil released his breath.

ooo

Seb had finally turned off his laptop, much to the approval of Leon. His cheeks were dappled with the ghosts of tears, his round face flushed, curl even more crooked than it was before. Emil realised that this must be how he looked after several hours of listening to music. Leon grinned at the boy, before asking, "so what _were_ you watching, anyway?" Seb sat on his desk, brushing his hair out of his face, a bit more like he was normally. "Oh, anime." Emil shrugged. "Seems fine by me. It's quite late though, maybe you should get changed?" Seb nodded, taking his pyjamas to the toilet to dress. Leon lay, flat on his back, on Emil's bed. The wall next to it was plastered with posters of different bands; Of Monsters and Men, Pascal Pinon, Samaris, and Múm. Leon's was covered in different KPop groups, including the joke, BGA. Emil slid next to him. "Oi, you, this is my bed." Leon rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay," before sliding off, landing on the floor with a thud, and heading over to his bed. Emil glanced over at his digital alarm clock. 22:05. He could afford to stay awake for a bit longer, until half ten perhaps. The boy slipped on his earphones, started playing 'Bloom', and pulled his earmuffs over them, closing his eyes. Bliss.

ooo

Emil opened his eyes, risen from his stupor. He pulled off his earmuffs and earphones and checked the time. 23:16. He had been listening to music for over an hour. He rolled over and closed his eyes again, waiting for sleep to come, when suddenly- were those footsteps? Emil froze, his covers tucked under his chin messily, earphone cord still hanging over the railing of his bed. The footsteps stopped outside the door, then there was a thud; somebody had dropped something outside the door. Whoever it was walked away, and when all was silent, Emil pulled off his duvet and climbed off the bed, careful not to wake anybody up. Seb was snoring, his chest rising and falling, and Leon was squeezed into a corner of the bed, silent. He walked towards the door and opened it carefully (it wasn't locked), and picked up a few pieces of paper that were outside the door, plus a book labelled 'read this'. The title was in Icelandic, so Emil assumed it must have been for him. After locking the door, he put it on his desk, then read the pieces of paper. All three were identical, and from the light of his digital clock, he could see that they were club lists. Too tired to read, Emil placed the papers on his desk with his book, and went back to bed.

ooo

Emil was clutching something, and arm- whose arm? But before he could identify it, it fell away from him. All he knew was that he needed it, he was suddenly running, flying, gliding along, but the arm was faster, floating on its own. It took a while for him to realise that he was underwater. The arm soared upwards, breaking into air, Emil following... Suddenly the arm was gone, he was swimming in lake Skorradalsvatn, icy cold water on his bare skin, Lukas was there, so was Mathias, and Berwald, and Tino, and- he let in a mouthful of bitter water- Akuluk, watching him, reaching out their hands, telling him that he would be all right, but Emil wanted to explore, go further out, the currents pulling him further out, he had changed his mind, he called for them, shouting their names, the frigid water numbing his bones, lungs filled with frost, but they couldn't hear him... They turned white like powder, pinched and taut, then became part of a wall, a box, keeping him in, he was in, what he realised, a giant refrigerator... He tried to open the door, but it was bolted shut, then laughter, high-pitched, girly, raucous laughter, _Luci's laughter_ , penetrated his ears, he screamed but no sound came out, then something was shaking the fridge, shaking it again and again and again, banging his head against the walls, then his head landed on something soft, and his eyes opened, eyes which he didn't know were closed.

Leon held Emil to his chest. "Bad dream huh?" The boy replied, cold sweat on his face, eyelids blinking furiously against the sudden assault of light. "Perhaps. Being trapped in a fridge isn't pleasant." Leon laughed, soft, pleasant laughter, and perhaps, somewhere else, Akuluk was laughing with him, perhaps Luci was as well, at a joke Michelle told, or at something Lilli did. The world seemed clearer outside of your head.

 **Another chapter! Are you proud of me huh? I'm enjoying writing this so far, and I listened to the full album of Sundur by Pascal Pinon whilst writing this, so the ending might be a bit emotional. See you again, my friends! ~ Jay**


	5. Weekends are strangely short-lived

**Any music recommendations for writing? I've become mildly obsessed with Pascal Pinon, and Marina and the Diamonds.**

 **Cone of Depression Thank you so much for reviewing! The watch will hold some importance, although nothing too big. Also Eddie Poe is going to be important as well ;)**

 **Keep reviewing and following! Also I'll continue Wilted Edelweiss when I've got motivation- my interest in writing is very irregular, and sometimes I want to write pages and pages, and other times nothing at all. Homework's been getting me down nowadays, so uploading's going to be slow, but stay tuned! I'll try to add chapters eventually!**

The week passed without much further event. Emil signed himself up for a few clubs, such as Handball, Swimming, and Chess. There was quite a lot of discord over the disappearing fridge, but the staff seemed to conclude that it was the same saboteur as earlier, and everybody was more focused on getting through their large workload. Besides, they bought a new fridge, so the teachers had a place to put their food. The classwork, and certainly the schoolwork, was incredibly difficult. Emil didn't have too much trouble with Triple Science, but Art was providing tricky to master, and although they had free periods occasionally, this wasn't particularly great since they couldn't go to the neighbouring town yet. The worse fact was that the teachers started giving them homework, so these free hours were spent completing essays and drawing graphs. The weekend came eventually, and Emil was prepared to embrace two full days without school.

He woke up on Saturday to find the sun shining through the window, although not in a particularly warm way. The weather was already getting colder, due to the changing seasons, and the days shorter. Shaking his pearly hair out of his eyes, Emil sat up somewhat reluctantly. The watch, which he had taken to buckling neatly over the railings over his bed, showed the time. Twenty past seven. His sleep schedule had formed in a neat order again after summer, and he found it tricky to sleep past half seven, and even more so to sleep before ten in the evening. Rubbing fatigue out of his eyes, Emil picked up his phone. He had recently completed the story about Leon's eyebrows, and it seemed disturbingly popular. Several new comments flashed across the screen, all of them positive, most of them about the eyebrow fic, which he had named 'True Love'. Perhaps Leon would like to hear how popular his facial hair was. Thinking about the boy, Emil glanced across the room.

Leon was curled up, like a baby, beneath the covers, yet his snoring seemed nasal, unnatural. Emil smiled to himself and swiftly climbed down the ladder to the floor, then crossed the bedroom, making sure he didn't wake Seb, who was actually sleeping, and climbed up onto Leon's bed. The chinese boy seemed to twitch slightly upon his friend's arrival, and Emil waited a moment. After Leon seemed to relax, he pounced, throwing the duvet off and tickling him.

"Ahh!" Leon shrieked, with laughter and surprise. Emil chortled, mirth clear on his face as he attacked the boy. Leon gasped, pushing him away. "Stop! We'll wake Seb up!" Tears rolled gently down his cheeks as he laughed, and Emil wiped them with his sleeve before sliding off of the boy. But something wasn't right. Nobody cried that much from laughing, and the bedsheet was scattered with teardrops which didn't seem new. Emil didn't say anything though, and simply sat next to Leon. He glanced across the room quickly, reviewing his Björk poster, and his recently erected photograph of the school. Seb was still, unbelievably, sleeping- he was a heavy sleeper, just like his brothers. Leon snuggled up to his arm. "What are you thinking of doing today, Em?" Emil replied, putting his arm around the boy. "Same as you." "So... doing homework and talking to Luci, then taking an impromptu nap in the library?" "Well, is it impromptu if you tell me you're going to do it?" Leon sighed and leaned backwards. "I don't know." Mr Puffin sighed, making both boys jump.

ooo

"What on earth have you been feeding that puffin?" Cheng asked. It was breakfast time, and Emil and Leon were sitting in the dining hall. Emil had dressed himself in a Marina and the Diamonds t-shirt he had picked up at a music festival, the logo hidden by a scarf. It was still too warm for a jumper, and his jeans were slightly loose, rolled up over brown leather laced boots. Leon wore a similar scarf, and a plain t-shirt, with a jacket over it and skinny black jeans. Mr Puffin was sitting on Emil's head, feathers fluffed up, surveying the scene silently. It was a while before Emil registered Cheng's question. "Oh, well, he fishes in the lake himself." He took a spoonful of porridge, then, grimacing slightly, added sugar. Luca took the sugar from him afterwards. "Where is Seb, anyway?" The boy asked, sprinkling sugar on his toast. It was Leon who answered. "Still asleep. There's no school, so he's under no obligation to wake up early. Have either of you seen the girls?" Cheng shook his head, which made his glasses slip to the side.

As if they were summoned, Luci, Michelle, and Lilli entered the dining hall, all giggling. They sat down at the boys' table after picking up some breakfast. Luci was wearing a black bib and brace dress over a white blouse, and there was apparently a pocket in the dress, because she pulled out a box from it as soon as she sat down. "Good morning!" She called cheerily, opening the box. Upon Luca's inquisitive look, she declared "macarons," before taking a few out and passing them around. "Frère gave them to me the other day. How are you?" The question was directed at Emil, who was still eating porridge. "Oh, good. Seb's still sleeping, and Leon-" he turned around to face his friend. "How are you Leon?" Leon grinned, biting into his macaron. "I'm great. A day of not doing anything is exactly what I wanted. I could also ask Kiku for his karaoke machine so we could annoy Yao." His cousin was a Computing teacher. Michelle grinned, her dark hair pulled into bunches, a cardigan over a pretty patterned dress. "Now _that_ sounds like a plan."

ooo

Lilli had a surprising knack for perception. She watched over Emil as he sketched the inside of a cottage, telling him when it looked strange. They were sitting by the edge of the lake, and Luci had taken her shoes off, placing them in the cold water. Seb had finally joined them, after Leon had given Luca and Cheng his room key so that they could wake him up. His curl was even more crooked than ever, his face slightly red from half-sleep, but his hazel eyes were as bright as ever. Leon was sitting next to Luci, holding her discarded tights, and Michelle was playing music. Lilli pointed at the window in Emil's sketch. "It's angled strangely. Maybe you should try to turn it a bit?" Emil nodded, but his eyes were fixed on the opposite bank. Tino was sitting there, with Lukas and Mathias, laughing. He prayed that the men didn't notice him and come over- in fact, he had positioned himself just behind a crop of reeds to avoid being spotted.

But Lilli herself was preoccupied- Raivis Gallante, a boy from their English class- had just walked past. Emil smirked, then remembered the first day when his friends kept laughing about him and Xiaomei, and stopped. Since then, the girl had been acting more normally around the boy, yet she still seemed a little on edge. Overall, Emil preferred it when she wasn't blushing intensely, and she had turned out to be quite cheerful and good at tennis. Putting his sketchbook back into his bag, Emil sat up, then went to sit next to Leon as Lilli chatted to Raivis. Luci smiled upon seeing him, and he spoke up. "Aren't your feet cold?" Leon rolled his eyes. "That's what I've been asking her, but she seems determined to get frostbite. The French girl poked his cheek. "It's not that cold, and besides, my feet have gone numb, it feels nice." She turned to Emil. "How's your art homework going?" "Ok, Lilli's been helping me with perception." The boy put his arm around Leon, who sighed. "She's been helping me too. Thank goodness she's taking art as well, or else I'd have no idea what was going on in the lessons." Luci sniffed, just as Xiaomei walked past.

"Oh, hi Luci! Michelle! Emil! Oh, and baichi." She was smiling, a baseball cap shoved on her head backwards. Leon rolled his eyes again. "Love you too, sis. Want to sit down?" Cheng turned around to face her. "Yeah, meimei. Why the hesitation? We don't bite." The girl nodded and went to sit down next to Michelle, and glanced at Emil briefly before striking up a conversation with her. Emil fixed his eyes determinedly on Mr Puffin, who was catching fish in the lake, ignoring Luci's not-so-innocent smile. Leon exhaled. "She could, I don't know, actually speak to us?" His friend snorted, and pulled his arms away from his shoulders and put them around his waist. Leon leaned his head on Emil's shoulder, before lurching it violently to the right, hitting Luci in the cheek. She yelled and fell to the side, laughing, while Leon gave a triumphant whoop. "That's what you get for making me guard your tights for half an hour!"

Unfortunately, now that he was sitting right at the water's edge, Emil caught the attention of his brother. Lukas waved at him, then, saying something to Mathias and Tino, walked around the lake and towards the boy, who tried to hide behind Leon fruitlessly- the boy kept elbowing him. Michelle, upon seeing Lukas, waved to him, smiling. Luci pulled her feet out of the water and tied her hair bow tighter, and Xiaomei eyed the man warily, before shuffling over to where Luca, Seb, and Cheng were talking (Lilli was still chatting to Raivis). She whispered something to the boys, who whispered something back- Emil didn't catch it. Leon passed Luci her tights and she put them back on. He pushed Emil away from his back and put his head on his shoulder- the boy remembered the conversation with Lukas previously that week, and felt a strange, childish defiance. He wouldn't let his brother's disapproval prevent him from being friends with Leon- he would act as gay as he wanted, he thought, and as long as he knew he was straight, Lukas couldn't do anything about it.

Mathias grinned at the group. He usually grinned after all- he was such a smiling figure. He nodded at Emil, Leon, Luci, and Michelle. "I know you lot. Everything going fine?" They all nodded in unison; it was more than their education's worth to admit that they hadn't done half of their homework to a teacher. He smiled even wider- large white teeth reaching from cheek to teeth- and walked towards Seb, Cheng, Luca, and Xiaomei. Lukas glanced for a long moment (in fact, it was more of a gaze than a glance) in their direction, smiled, then frowned upon seeing Emil and Leon, but the expression passed, and the man followed Mathias, introducing himself to the other children. Tino, on the other hand, came bounding up to him, an apologetic expression on his face.

"Oh my, Icey! I'm so sorry for not going to see you, I just reckoned you would be too busy to talk to me. Anyway, how are you?" The man beamed down, and for a moment Emil could see why everybody thought they looked alike- he had the same, neatly cut hair, the same colour, although his was straighter, and similar eyes, although his were rounder. Then the moment passed, and Emil blinked up at Tino. "Oh, good, thank you." Even though he was almost as annoyingly patriarchal as Mathias, he didn't take pleasure in shamelessly teasing the boy (or perhaps that was just Mathias' overpositivity). Tino gazed around at the other teenagers, who were staring up at him, slightly bewildered. Leon pushed his face into Emil's neck and shuddered awkwardly.

"Oh, these must be your friends. Nice to meet you, I'm Mr Väinämöinen, but you can call me Tino!" Luci seemed to be the first to unfreeze. "Oh! You're the Design and Technology teacher!" Tino smiled at her. "Oh, and you're Lucielle Bonnefoy, I imagine, and you're one of Katyusha's students... Michelle Azikiwe? And obviously there's a Wang... Leon?" They all nodded, and Michelle gave a small gasp. "Oh! You pronounced my surname right!" He nodded. "With a surname like Väinämöinen, you end up with quite a lot of sympathy for people with trickier names." Leon buried his head even further into Emil's neck, his hair tickling the boy. "Oi! Linny!" he snapped up at the sound of Luci's voice. "Linny...?" She smiled innocently. "Well that seems to have woken you up. Talk to Tino." Leon glanced up at the man, then lowered his gaze a little- he had just sat down- and nodded. "Oh, yo, sir." _Yo?_ "Call me Tino." He smiled, pink-tinged eyes crinkling slightly, then relaxing. Emil pinched Leon's cheek. "Lin." He received a hard pinch back. "Em. Actually, no, Mil."

Meanwhile, Lukas and Mathias had practically dragged the other four towards them. "Icey, you sure have some cool friends!" Mathias remarked. Xiaomei looked just as embarrassed as Emil felt, and Cheng had rushed over to Luci, as if the presence of the girl would shield him from the irritating adults. Luca sat next to Michelle, and the two conversed quietly, while Seb started chatting to Tino as if they'd known each other their whole lives. Lukas sat down next to Emil, and the boy could practically sense his eyes narrowing at the sight of Leon. Emil felt his friend turning to face his brother, then pull away slightly. He leaned towards Leon, lips against his ear, and whispered, "it's okay, Leon." The boy placed his head back on Emil's shoulder, although with relative unease. Then Lukas' eyes were off of Emil, and onto Mr Puffin, who was flying back towards show. A group of Year 7s were pointing at the bird, awe on their faces, and Mathias laughed again as he landed on Emil's head.

"Ah, Mr Puffin, followed Icey here to school, huh?" He asked. Emil shivered. _Icey._ Luci laughed airily at some joke that Seb told her, although her eyes were fixed on Lukas. Mr Puffin replied gruffly. "Well, what did ya expect me to do? Leave this urchin alone and unaccompanied with a bunch of teenagers?" "He's not necessarily unaccompanied," Lukas spoke, fiddling with his hair clip like he always did when deep in thought. It was Leon who shivered this time, and his voice was lowered slightly as he turned to speak to Xiaomei, his eyes flitting occasionally towards Lukas, even though he tried to disguise it. Mr Puffin ruffled his feathers; this was especially uncomfortable for Emil. "Well, 'course he's not, with you around." The boy recalled that it was Mr Puffin who warned him of Lukas' watchfulness, then recalled that it was slightly weird to be given advice by your pet puffin, then recalled that he was less of a pet than a friend.

Mathias sat down next to Lukas and slipped an arm around him; the man seemed too preoccupied to notice. Emil realised that he was sneaking occasional glances at Leon, and since Leon was sneaking glances back, their eyes met for a moment, and both of them simply stared. Luci whispered in Emil's ear suddenly, "a cold-guy exchange," and then the moment passed, Lukas was fiddling with his hair clip again, Leon was talking to Xiaomei again, and Luci was poking Seb for being a dork. Emil stared across the water silently, ignoring the buzz of chatter, barely noticing Lilli returning to talk to them with Raivis. Only when Lukas, Tino, and Mathias started leaving did he regain his senses. Lukas leaned over to talk to him. "Emil..." Emil turned away. "No." His older brother frowned, but then Mathias called him, and he loped away.

ooo

"I didn't know your brother's friends called you Icey, Em." Leon mentioned as they sat underneath the apple tree, eating their lunch. Emil placed his back flat on the tree bark. The strange table was there, and although it was a far more adequate surface than their knees, Luci seemed adamant that they didn't sit there. She was perched on the roots of the old tree, chatting to Lilli and Raivis. The latter, a short Latvian boy, was nice, if not oddly nervous. Lilli kept glancing at him with her wide green eyes, and Michelle kept hiccoughing unusually every time she did so. "Oh, it's because I'm Icelandic." At this, Luci turned in his direction. "Are you serious? But I come from Monaco, so would I be called Mona?" Emil shrugged. "Mathias managed to surround himself in Nordics. It's pretty awful, really." Leon frowned. "But your brother's Norwegian, you said so yourself, so..?" Lilli cocked her head. "But you have different surnames, and you don't call him 'older brother' either. What happened?"

Emil shivered. "We just... aren't that close." Leon shook his head, choppy brown locks sweeping over amber eyes. "No. You barely look like Lukas, you're both from different countries, you don't address him as an older brother, you don't even have the same surname." Emil looked down at his feet. "Miss Braginskaya has a younger sister with a different surname, and she says they look nothing alike. You heard her in form, it's just one of those situations..." Leon looked him in the eye, and as his chestnut gaze met the boy's mulberry one, he seemed to plead. "Be honest with us, Emil." His friend sighed. "My mother died giving birth to me, and my father was already dead. Our paternal grandparents offered to take us in, unfortunately, they mixed me up with an Italian called Emilia Bondeviguo, another orphan." Emil's voice became quiet upon mentioning her, but nevertheless, he persisted.

"None of Emilia's relatives had wanted her back, so I was put up for adoption in her place. I dare say she lived quite a good few weeks..." Michelle piped up. "A few weeks? What happened to her afterwards?" Emil replied, yet quieter. "She died. She was always weak, then she caught the flu, then she died before they could treat it." Nobody said any more. "I was adopted by a young Icelandic couple, the Steilssons, and I grew up in Iceland, living quite a normal existence, unaware that my brother was mourning the death of a sister that wasn't his. We took a DNA test which confirmed that we were related a few years ago, and I left the Steilssons to go and meet him in Norway. I stayed at school in Iceland, visiting him during the holidays, then he offered to take me in a few months ago, and to take me to school here." Emil felt Leon clasp his hand, the group silent. Michelle laughed nervously, and Luci kept fumbling with a twig. Eventually Raivis dropped his pasta and the silence was broken, but he could still feel the other teenagers' eyes on him even as they went back inside.

ooo

An hour later, they were all almost back to normal, despite the glances some of the group gave Emil, which he feigned ignorance of. Since they weren't allowed to go to the town yet, all they had to do was homework. Emil had finished his cottage sketch, and so had Leon, so the two of them decided to go to the library with Luci. Michelle had gone with Xiaomei, and Lilli was getting to know some of the younger students, so they were quite alone. As they sat amongst the bookshelves, pretending to read books, and actually reading them, a strange sort of sombreness hung over the three, broken suddenly by a conversation amongst some of the teachers nearby. Luci looked up from 'Wuthering Heights' on the first syllable.

"Gilbert, what on Earth are you going to do with those books?" It was Mr Beilschmidt, the German teacher. He never seemed to be angry usually, or show much emotion at all, so it was strange to hear him raise his voice. A higher, rougher voice replied.

"I'm going to read them, of course! What are you getting all paranoid about, West? Do I not seem clever enough for you?" He sounded oddly hurt. Emil had, by now, torn his eyes off of a copy of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' to stare through the gaps in between the books on the bookshelf next to him, where the voices were coming from. Leon kept shifting his head around for a clue to what the other voice looked like, while Luci seemed quite unaffected by the presence of the other man.

"No, no!" Mr Beilschmidt replied hastily. "I'm just... I mean, are you sure you can finish four books?" Emil winced- surely the other man would take offence, but the raspy voice simply laughed with a sound like an oddly melodic cheese-grater.

"Oh, West, of course I can! What do you think I've been doing all day, freeloading at your house, unemployed because my younger brother usurped my teaching position?" He didn't even sound bitter. "Besides, now that I'm going to resume my job, it would be awesome if I could expand my knowledge!" Mr Beilschmidt shuffled oddly and said nothing, whilst Luci frowned, Emil glanced at Leon, and Leon shrugged in response. Eventually he replied.

"Oh, I was just.. I need this space for a study meeting, you know, to get help marking students' work." He sounded oddly rushed, and Emil could practically sense him glancing at his watch, and seemingly so could his friends, for both of them looked a mixture of enlightened and even more confused. Perhaps the Icelander had the same expression on his face.

The other man's voice became colder. "Oh? Who are you meeting?" Mr Beilschmidt made the same odd shuffling motion. His phone beeped suddenly, and the sound of something- his phone, most likely- being taken from his pocket, combined with the snatching motion and a little gasp from the German teacher alerted Emil to the fact that he had just taken his phone out, only for it to be snatched away by the other man. He spoke in a quiet voice.

"Feli... you were planning to meet Feli? In the discarded books section? How... tasteless." The man's voice was frosty. "I see... what kind of 'work' were you planning to do?" "Marking. Our pupils' work, you know, we could reference from texts here-" "So you need to go into the most deserted part of the library for help marking, ignoring the fact that the same books could be found elsewhere? And instead of just telling me, you need to make up a story? Insult my ability to read?" Mr Beilschmidt shuffled again, and Luci shivered slightly, as if she could feel the chill in the man's voice.

"Yes. Marking. That's it." The other man laughed, the melody in his scratchy voice gone. "I never knew people called kissing 'marking' nowadays. Well, I'll be off. No need to mention me!" He strode away, and Emil caught a glance of pale skin, with paler hair, and a flash of scarlet; his eyes, presumably. Then he was gone from view. The three stared at each other, before Leon spoke again. "You can keep the books in the discarded section, you know. Like, no need to borrow them." Luci nodded, standing up. Emil packed his stuff away, plus his newly appropriated book, and, slipping an arm around Leon's, left the library.

ooo

"What was all that about?" Emil asked Luci as they strode down the corridors. Leon had snuggled up to his shoulder, and Luci seemed to be finding something mildly amusing as she kept sniffing in an unusual manner. Upon being addressed, the girl gazed up at him, an eyebrow raised. "Didn't you know? That was Mr Beilschmidt and his brother, Gilbert." Emil tilted his head. "Okay. But who's Feli? Wait, that's the nickname for your RE teacher, right? But that still doesn't clear it up." Leon snorted. "Mr Beilschmidt decided to meet up in the library with Mr Vargas, planning to do some romantic stuff, and this Gilbert guy is jealous. Is that right?" He asked Luci. She nodded. "Yes, that's the gist of it- Emil, dear, why are you shaking your head?" He replied quickly. "I figured that out already. What I'm asking is; why is Gilbert so jealous? Why meet in the library?" Luci responded almost as quickly. "That part of the library, the discarded books section, is practically empty most of the time, and Ludwig- oh Leon!" She gave and exasperated sigh at Leon's wince, "You can refer to your teachers by their first names in this school, you know! Anyway, Ludwig probably thought it would be a clever idea, except Gilbert was cleverer. Also, frère told me that Gilbert's always been quite fond of Feliciano, so that explains it." She poked Leon in the cheek, and little more was said on the subject.

They were on their way to the dining hall, which was a lot further away from the library than the trio anticipated. Just as they saw the dining hall, they were interrupted by a commotion in the staffroom, which was in the same part of the building. Emil turned around quickly, staring at the wooden door, and Leon and Luci did the same, the latter almost falling over as she did so. The door burst open, and Mr Bonnefoy leaned out of the doorway, an elated expression on his face. "Lovi! Feli! Lud! Come over here! Gil's back!" 'Gil', which was apparently short for Gilbert, waved out of the doorway, grinning, an arm around Mr Carriedo, who taught Spanish, and was also smiling. The majority of the staff seemed happy to have him back- Miss Hedervary was laughing, Mr Braginsky's eyes were glowing, Mr Edelstein was smiling slightly, and even Mr Kirkland I (Arthur) looked more positive. The only people who weren't amused were Mr Łukasiewicz, who was staring at the floor, Mr Laurinaitis, who had an arm around Mr Łukasiewicz, and was also staring at the floor, and Mr Kirkland III (Alistair), who was sleeping.

Mr Vargas II, who was apparently called some variation of 'Lovi', turned the corner, Miss and Mr Van Dijk following. He scowled upon seeing Gilbert, but hugged him nevertheless, muttering, "damn it, the potato bastard's older brother's back." Mr Carriedo hugged Mr Vargas as well, and his scowl deepened. Mr Van Dijk gave Gilbert a nod of acknowledgement, and his sister smiled at him, before both of them entered the staffroom. Mr Vargas I and Mr Beilschmidt I were yet to appear, and Mr Bonnefoy gave a huff. "Oh, it's not like his older brother's come back from two years of sick leave or anything. Ludwig! Gilbert's back! Say hello to your only sibling!" He shouted the last part down the corridors, and turned around quickly, spotting the three teenagers, as 'Lovi' wriggled free from Mr Carriedo's grasp. "Oh, Luci, and these must be Emil and Leon?" Luci beamed. "So you finally remembered some names?" Mr Bonnefoy rolled his eyes. "Of course I did, I mean, you've been going on about them for the entire week! Come in boys, we can be late for dinner today; I mean," he glanced fondly at Gilbert, "it's under special circumstances."

Emil was about to answer, but Luci had already grabbed him and Leon by the wrist and dragged them into the staffroom. Mr Bonnefoy gave one last shout across the corridors before he followed them, and Gilbert and Mr Carriedo sat down on a sofa in the middle of the room. Mr Bonnefoy sat down with them. Mr Kirkland I frowned deeply when Francis sat next to him, and he resumed his needlework with particular scrutiny. Luci sat in between Emil and Leon, and tugged both of their hair, grinning. Emil slipped an arm around her. She was a friend as well, so why not? Yet she pulled away and glanced at him, smiling, then moved to sit on the other side of him. Emil was confused, but didn't comment, and placed an arm around Leon, who didn't pull away.

Mr Bonnefoy turned towards them, and Gilbert fixed his eyes on Luci, before exclaiming. "Luci! You've grown, wait, actually.." he looked her up and down and frowned. "You're the same height as before, I swear..." Mr Carriedo winced. "Oh, I'm sure she's taller, don't be so blunt, uh..." Luci narrowed her eyes. "So, I haven't become taller since I was fourteen? I've grown quite a bit..." Mr Bonnefoy looked flustured. "Oh, there's nothing to worry about, you're still taller than Zwingli's little sister-" "Lilli's taller than me, actually." Luci tilted her head, and the atmosphere grew even more uncomfortable. Leon cleared his throat. "You're not _that_ short, Luci, you just have to grow a few- wait," Emil interjected. "Luci, when did you hit your growth spurt?" She gazed down at her knees. "When I was ten. So..." "You would've finished growing by now." She glanced up. "Wait, so I'll stay a dwarf for the rest of my life? Are you serious?" Emil nodded, and Leon coughed again.

"Look, short girls have a better time than short guys. It could be worse." Emil nodded to this as well, and Luci huffed and leaned back on her chair. Mr Bonnefoy nodded frantically, his long blond hair flopping across his eyes. "Let's go to dinner now, we can continue talking later." But as he sat up, Mr Kirkland I pulled back his hair, and quickly, before anyone could comment, redid his hair bow. "It's flopping everywhere. If you can't tie it properly, don't wear it, okay?" Before storming off, leaving the other man standing in bemusement. "What on- never mind. Let's go." Gilbert grinned, and so did Mr Carriedo, and the three men walked out of the room, the Spaniard beckoning the children towards them. Mr Van Dijk gave a nod of acknowledgement to Emil, and he recalled that he was a good friend of Mathias' before heading out, an arm around Leon and one around Luci, who was still apparently shaken at the realisation that she wouldn't grow any taller.

Dinner passed remarkably quickly, and Emil was just finishing his yoghurt when Mr Kirkland III stepped up onto the platform. He cleared his throat, and it was magnified several times since his mouth was so close to the microphone. Luca winced. Mr Kirkland frowned, then began to speak. "Quiet, everybody, and look this way. We have some important news. By quiet, that does include you, Im Yong Soo." He looked pointedly at the boy with the strange curl from Triple Science. "So, as some of you may know, one of our staff members has returned from sick leave. This is, of course, Mr Beilschmidt- the OTHER Mr Beilschmidt- who will be teaching German. If you would like to say something, Gilbert?" Mr Kirkland stepped down, and Mr Beilschmidt, who had been eating at the staff table amidst laughter, took his place. He began to speak in his rough voice.

"Hello, it's me, Mr Beilschmidt. Some of you know me already, since I taught German a few years ago, but I had to leave due to health issues. Since they've fortunately cleared up, I am back, and I promise our lessons together will be awesome!" He nodded and smiled, and Emil felt a sense of admiration for his positivity. He then sat back down at the table, and the other Mr Beilschmidt gave him a high five. Apparently they had reconciled. After a few minutes, Emil put his plate and cutlery on the rack, then sat back down and prodded Leon. "Hey." Leon looked up, his amber eyes narrowed. "So on the first day you blew on my neck, and now you're prodding me? Could you just say my name or something?" Emil shook his head. "Sorry, I can't do that. The only way I can get your attention is by mildly inconveniencing you." He grinned, and lay his head on the table. "Just hurry up eating, won't you? I'm not going to wait forever." Leon rolled his eyes, but smiled at this. Michelle made a noise somewhere between a cough, a sneeze, and a giggle, and Luci laughed at her.

"So, Seb," Emil called across the table once Leon had finished eating. "Me and Leon are going to have a shower, so don't go into the bathroom unless you're sure that there's nobody in there. Is that okay?" Seb nodded. "Okay! I'll be in the common room if you're wondering." Emil nodded and stood up, placing his earmuffs on, then waited for Leon to clear away his plates. The two boys left the main school building and headed towards the Cicada Block. Leon was silent, but Emil noticed that his eyes twinkled slightly, and that he kept glancing at his earmuffs, until the boy pulled out a pair of headphones, and fitted them over his head. Emil put his earphones in beneath his earmuffs, and the two walked in silence, their breath warm in the cool twilight air. Leon took Emil's, and they revelled in the beauty of the sight for a moment, the thick ivy and red bricks in contrast, and then they were indoors, and the night seemed to dispel. They climbed the many stairs to the twelfth floor, and through the corridor to Room 12(80), at the very end. The door swung open easily.

Leon flung himself onto the sofa, pulling his headphones off. "Just give me a moment, Em." He responded to Emil's questioning. The Icelander nodded and hang a newly-washed school-brand towel on a hook by the shower, before taking his earmuffs and earphones off and splashing his face with water. Leon entered swiftly, holding his pyjamas and a pair of underwear, nodded at Emil, smiled, then ushered him out. Several minutes passed, which Emil spent trying to let Mr Puffin in through the window. "My, boy," he spoke, ruffling his feathers in annoyance. "I've been trying to get in for hours. Keep the window open, will ya?" Emil nodded and apologised. "Sorry, Mr Puffin, I will." The bird sniffed and flew into the makeshift nest the boys had built for him in a corner of the room. Leon reentered the bedroom immediately after the exchange, wearing a polo and checked trousers. "You're free to go in, Em." "Right, Le," was the response, and Emil picked up his pyjamas and went to shower.

He left the bathroom, having just brushed his teeth, to see Leon staring at his violin case. Emil felt uneasy. His friend glanced up at him. "Hey, Em, can you play this?" The boy nodded slowly. "Could you..?" And Emil would've sooner said no, but was there really any harm in playing the violin once? So he opened the case, which was covered in stickers from various music festivals, bands, and odd events. The violin lay there, maple-wood and ebony, and Emil picked it up as he had done so many times before. He tucked it under his chin, held his bow in one hand, and glanced at Leon for confirmation. The boy nodded and smiled, and Emil began to play.

A sweet sound issued from the instrument, a folk song that he had played infinite times before, but soon Emil ended it, and packed the violin away. Not today. But as short as the symphony was, Leon still seemed astounded. "Em, that's.. that's beautiful!" Emil shrugged and sat down next to him on the sofa, fatigue rippling off his skin. The two boys lay, on the sofa, somewhat awkwardly, and Emil felt a strange reassurance in the other's presence. _This is really, really stupid,_ he thought, but he was so tired, and his eyelids were drooping... the boy shook himself awake, and, realising that Leon was asleep, picked him up, and, with a lot of difficulty, threw him into his bed. Emil pulled the covers around his best friend, and wished him good night, despite knowing that the words would go unheard. He turned the light off, wondering when Seb would return, then climbed into his own bed, falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. _Perhaps school isn't as bad as I thought it would be._


End file.
